Buffet ideas for a casino theme

Aya PauliUpdated April 17, 2017

The best buffet ideas for a casino theme use an assortment of finger foods. Casino themes tend to contain games and lots of activity. You need to serve food that can move with people as they socialise and gamble. Anything that requires sitting down with a fork and knife will be too cumbersome.

Basic Buffet

Offer a basic buffet if you're trying to stick to a budget for your casino theme. Choose delicious and cheap finger foods so that you can cut costs without sacrificing taste. Use a "golden treasure" theme with fried foods, such as French fries, tater tots, chicken fingers, fish fingers, cheese sticks, mushroom caps and jalapeño poppers. Add a variety of dipping sauces and some healthy, "golden," side dishes, such as pineapple chunks, sliced yellow apple and yellow pear spears.

Dessert Buffet

A dessert buffet idea for a casino theme can be as simple or elaborate as your budget allows. Cut costs by making the desserts yourself or splurge and pay a bakery to make the desserts for you. Use white sugar cookies, blue blueberry sugar cookies and red strawberry sugar cookies stacked like poker chips. Add mini apple tarts or fudge brownies decorated to look like playing cards. Fill plastic treasure chests with chocolates, caramels and hard candies to create the treasure.

Gambling Buffet

Take your casino theme to the extreme with a gambling-inspired buffet. Cut cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon pieces in spade and club card suite shapes. Cut finger sandwiches into diamond and heart card suite shapes. Stack round cracker, cucumber and cheese slices on a platter like poker chips. Add bowls of foil-covered, chocolate coins for a dessert.

Seafood Buffet

A seafood buffet is a common site in most casinos. Seafood tends to be expensive and difficult when used in a buffet, making its inclusion a sign of a quality establishment. Indulge your guests in the lavish experience of a casino buffet by providing a few of the many seafood finger foods available. Start a casino-themed seafood buffet with a variety of shrimp dishes. Offer fried popcorn shrimp, shrimp cocktails, teriyaki shrimp rolls and spicy shrimp poppers. Add crab cakes, crab puffs, lobster-stuffed mini croissants and fried clams. Prepare a variety of dipping sauces and some side dishes, such as rolls, veggie spears and/or fruit salad.

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About the Author

A writer since 2000, Aya Pauli has covered a variety of topics including food, fashion, beauty, health, parenting, education, decor and crafts. Her award-winning recipes have been published in food magazines such as "Taste of Home," and she is also the author of a salad cookbook. Pauli's craft projects appear in major manufacturer websites, including Dow Styrofoam. She also holds a CDA in early childhood education and works as a preschool teacher in Wyoming.